To greet trick or treaters in a scary costume...

We've recently moved in to a new area - a large cul de sac with lots of family homes, lots of children play in the area etc. We noticed yesterday most homes have Halloween related decorations outside and we thought it might be nice to join in with the fun, though we don't have any children ourselves. DP and I got a little carried away in our local supermarket and have purchased allsorts to go outside the house. In addition, DP has bought a brilliant full faced zombie mask and outfit, along with fake blood and some other props. He tried out the costume last night and admittedly he looks rather terrifying!

Chatting to some friends today who have pointed out that the outfit is very scary and could well traumatise the children coming to our door and that this wouldn't really be appropriate. Perhaps I'm being totally unreasonable here but I always thought scary outfits was all part of the fun and to be expected if you go around trick or treating?! The majority of the children I've seen around are aged 8 + I'd say but that's not to say we wouldn't get younger children knocking..... Opinions please?!

I can't believe people's responses - wearing a properly scary costume to terrify little children? What on earth is wrong with you? I would be absolutely furious if anyone did this to my kids. If your DH wants to dress up as something like a zombie, tell him to go to an adult Halloween event. I really despair of people's common sense.

One of best houses we ever went to, as we went up the path and knocked at the door, a dressed up person came from the side of the house and screamed appropriately. It was fab! Surely the possibility of getting scared is how It works?

I love the Modern Family Halloween episode when Claire gets really competitive. So yes, go for it. They are out to enjoy Halloween so why not. If you were a receptionist in a hotel I would have answered differently!

You could wear something Halloween related but not that scary. Halloween costumes do separate into children and adult ones and in my experience here all the Trick or Treaters are quite young with parents and I think someone really trying to terrify them would not go down well.

Last year I took 3 of the dc out trick or treating while dh stayed home with the baby. As I was nearly back home I called him to say right we are on a way, so he switched all the hall lights off put on a really scary mask with lots of blood on. The idea was I was going to "forget my keys" we would knock he would jump out and scare the life out of the kids.However we cocked up the timing and a lovely couple with a one and three year old knocked on the door just before we got there. Poor little things I ended up almost filling their buckets with sweets as an apology and dh was mortified as they were screaming and sobbing on our drive.

Hard to say without seeing the costumes but it amazes me how kids are into zombies these days so maybe you’ll be fine. I used to have a neighbour who insisted on tagging along trick or treating with us but her ds was scared of masks! She complained constantly about the scary costumes people had as we walked around. I was so glad when she moved.